Family of 4 considering STL move-advice pls

[Hector2]

I don't know if size of school district matters to you but, for example, Kirkwood HS has about 1800 students and Clayton HS has about 800.

Webster, Clayton, and Kirkwood probably will come closest to having the vibe you're looking for. zach_33 made some good points about Ladue in general. No one has mentioned Maplewood/Richmond Heights. They are located just south of Clayton and west of St. Louis City. The Maplewood/Richmond Heights school district has been on an upswing, particularly its elementary. Maplewood's main street area on Manchester and its surrounding streets have great restaurants of all varieties, coffee shops, craft breweries, and an old fashioned bowling alley. Maybe it's worth a look. You'd be living on the edge of Forest Park, centrally located, and your budget would go really far.

Clayton is probably the best match but housing prices there have gotten truly out of hand. There will be some houses in your budget but either they won't be completely updated (but maybe enough that you'd be ok with them; they won't be decrepit--there are two on Realtor, but currently under contract, that meet that description) or they will be on the smaller side. Hint: some houses in Richmond Heights are actually in the Clayton or Ladue school district. Those houses will be cheaper than houses that are actually in the city limits of Clayton or Ladue. Ask your real estate agent. Good luck.

[Drunkenwolf]

I would suggest Ballwin however thats a bit further west.. Kirkwood is awesome very charming nice neat downtown the same with Webster Groves Richmond heights Brentwood Maplewood are all great neighborhoods.. Im going out on a whim Lindbergh school district is the best school district in St.Louis county but i could be wrong but i also heard Clayton Schools are right there the same with Parkways..
Oh Crestwood which consist of Lindbergh Schools is actually a nice neighborhood thats not far from those desired places but its isolated from the interstate system.
Good luck on possible move the STL area

The one thing i love about St.Louis are the seasons.. Summers are hot & humid no denying however Autumn is nearly perfect here winters are mostly a cake walk as we don't get any type of blizzards maybe an occasional snowstorm or ice storm but nothing of historic portions and springs are beautiful & if you like thunderstorms you'll get those from tame to wild.
Oh and if you suffer from Allergies then you'll not like St.Louis it's one of the worst places for it

[Kathy884]

We moved to St. Louis from Denver and bought in Glendale (Kirkwood schools) right between Webster and Kirkwood. We rented in Maryland Heights first for 6 months while we looked at various neighborhoods looking for a home to buy. I liked the housing/neighborhood vibe most in Clayton and University City (I like older) -- more places to walk to than Kirkwood/Webster/Glendale, but Clayton was too expensive per square foot for us and University City while offering some lovely places in our price range didn't have the good schools and would have meant we had to do private schools.

After first checking out a bunch of different neighborhoods, we seriously did our home search looking at Webster, Kirkwood, and Glendale (liked the big trees, reasonable commutes for us, good schools, some places to walk to, but not perhaps as much as you are looking for, and there were houses with the space and amenities we were looking for that were move in ready in our prices range). We ended up in Glendale because we found a house on the market there that we liked. These are very safe family friendly neighborhoods. I think though only certain areas of these cities are going to have a lot to walk to. The neighborhoods you are mentioning, though, are all very nice -- family friendly with good schools and not too far from Forest Park. When we moved (DH moved here for a job in Clayton) and I lined up an IT position near Forest Park. If the housing is too expensive in Kirkwood/Glendale/Webster for what you are looking for, I believe there are some other communities with good schools too that would be decent options.


Our son has learning disabilities. I know Clayton has a really good reputation for working with kids and IEPs, just based on what other parents and teachers at the private school we went to said. I thought we got pretty good support in the Kirkwood school district too. Our son attended Kirkwood schools for K-2 and then 9-12. For grades 3-8 we did a private school for normal to high IQ kids with learning disabilities called Churchill Center and School that we thought was a good choice for our son (private school tuition was really pricey, though, -- about the same as a year at a public university). Also from what you are describing, sounds like your child with the IEP isn't struggling as much with academics as our son was and would probably do just fine in the public school.

[sak20011]

Oh my, I have not checked on this thread in a while, but so much good advice.

Zach_33: I really appreciate your perspective! and I think we would rule out Ladue for the same reasons you have mentioned. I've lived in a predominantly wealthy/white/SAHP neighborhoods and never totally fit in--everything was fine, but we kind of felt excluded at times because of our work, interests, income, Prius, etc . Also, I remember how tough MS and HS can be socially and I feel that sometimes that is challenging in the very wealthy suburbs (esp if your family is not) ...


Hector2 and Kathy884, I appreciate your info on other neighborhoods--glendale, Brentwood, etc. its the kind of more granular detail I appreciate and want to explore. Ideally, if we go, we'd rent and explore a while before choosing a neighborhood/home, but I am also mindful of not wanting to move the kids in/out of schools more than necessary.

Kathy884, also appreciate your advice on IEP and private schools. We are going to look into various privates, as well as publics, to have that option. Its hard to know whether my child would benefit significantly from private--but its worth considering for sure. Part of the factor of our housing cost/limit is that eventuality. If we did do private, too, it would take some pressure off schools--my other child would likely flourish anywhere and is very directed and achievement oriented and socially savvy.

This job process seems to be a very long one, so it looks like final interviews won't happen until late summer, but I'll check back in if we take the plunge!

[cruitr]

sak20011... we lived in the St Louis area for many years. 1989-2005. We really liked St Louis. It was painful to leave our friends and move to California.